Get Involved with Pro-Life

Are you someone who has watched the pro-life movement from afar, reading about developments in the battle to restore a culture of life, but never yet dipped your toe in the water to take any direct action yourself?

Or maybe you’ve supported the pro-life movement through your financial donations, and now feel called to donate your talents and physical presence in some capacity?

Or perhaps you’ve been a hardcore pro-life activist for years and now you wish to do even more to help protect children from being killed by abortion?

Whatever the reason your heartstrings are being pulled to get more involved, you’re in luck because as our precious Lord said: “The harvest is plenty, but the laborers are few”. The list below provides several ideas for new or veteran pro-lifers to get involved in supporting our work and mission. If you have any ideas that are not indicated on this page, email clc@campaignlifecoalition.com.

You could mark your calendar to join the annual LIFE CHAIN event nearest you on October 1, 2017…and plan to bring as many of your friends and family as possible. A list of locations from last year is shown here. If there is no location near you, perhaps you could consider volunteering as the Life Chain captain to start one? CLC supplies signs and some advertising support to local life chain leaders across Canada.

This 24-hour campaign outside abortion facilities saves hundreds of babies from death every single year. It also saves hundreds of mothers from the suffering and trauma that abortion very often produces in women. The campaign occurs twice per year internationally, featuring a Lenten event and a Fall campaign, although most communities opt to run them only once per year or in some cases, only every 18 months.

Consider donating 1 hour a day, or 1 hour a week to pray and witness outside the designated abortion facility. More info on what the 40 Days For Life campaign is all about is available here.

Since 2007 when CLC started up 40DFL in Canada, more than 20 cities have participated. You may view the list of current and past participating cities here. If there’s a community near you, contact the Campaign Director in the link provided and find out whether they plan to have a Fall 2017 campaign.Then join it!

Besides prayer volunteers, most communities are constantly pleading for skilled people to serve on the 40DFL Organizing Committee, assisting with computer work, shift captains, answering phone calls, sending emails, dealing with media, organizing the Kick-off Rally, etc. If you think you might be suited to help with some aspect of managing the campaign, the Organizing Committee would love to talk to you. Here is a listing of the typical duties and responsibilities that must be covered by members of the Organizing Committee. This would give you an idea of some of the tasks that might be happily delegated to willing applicants like yourself.

Plan to attend the National March For Life in the nation’s capital on May 10, 2018. Bring many friends along with you. You could also help promote this event in your church and social circles. Learn more about the March For Life here. If there’s not already a bus that leaves from your area, perhaps you could help organize one? Don’t live within driving distance of Ottawa? Don’t worry! Seven other provinces hold regional Marches For Life in solidarity with the national event. View the details for provincial Marches here.

Seven Canadian provinces run annual defund abortion rallies focused on removing elective abortion from the list of services insured by provincial health care plans, and paid for with public money. See the list of currently participating provinces here. Depending on the province, the rally may take the form of a large demonstration in front of the legislature building, or simultaneously coordinated mini-rallies at the constituency office of each provincial MLA (or MPP, MNA, MHA). You could help in this important endeavor by promoting the event in your church and social circles, encouraging people to attend in large numbers. You could even try to organize a bus load. You could also ask your pastor to put up posters in the church and to make regular announcements about the event to encourage congregants to attend. Oh, and pledge to attend yourself!

Throughout the year, CLC organizes ‘pamphleting blitzes’ where a group of prolife volunteers will target a neighbourhood near a provincial representative’s constituency office. The pamphleters go door-to-door as a team, stuffing our informative Defund Abortion pamphlet in neighborhood mailboxes. This is a great way to educate the public plus it always gets back to the MLA/MNA/MHA/MPP, thereby serving as an indirect method of lobbying them with the defund abortion message. Individuals who receive the pamphlet are encouraged to contact their elected member of provincial parliament and urge them to make efforts to defund elective abortions. You could either volunteer to go along with others, or if you feel so inclined, to become a team leader for the blitz.

Distributing our Defund Abortion petition in your church and social circles. These will be accumulated and eventually delivered to the elected representatives and/or presented in the respective legislature.

Sometimes, we also organize a “mini-rally” outside elected members’ constituency offices. This involves a group of pro-lifers peacefully demonstrating outside the MPPs constituency office in the riding on the issue of the government unfairly forcing taxpayers to fund medically unnecessary abortions. CLC supplies the team with Defund Abortion signs, prewritten speeches and a simple plan for notifying the MPP about the upcoming rally. If interested, you could join a future mini-rally. We may or may not already have a team leader in your electoral district, but if not, perhaps you would be interested in stepping forward as a team leader?

Clerical, Date Entry And General Office Help

CLC’s Toronto head office and as well as our provincial branches often needs volunteer assistance with filing, envelope stuffing, data entry, serving on our volunteer phone tree whenever we need to conduct a telephone campaign on a certain issue or election. If you’re willing to volunteer in any such capacity, check out our listing of offices and see if there’s one near you. Or perhaps there’s some volunteer work you might be able to do from home?

Campaign Life Coalition is completely dependent on donations and fundraisers. Without them, we would have to close our doors. We’re always looking for volunteers who are willing to operate a Coins For Life drive in their church or school. This is an effective way to support CLC financially. This has proven successful in many churches where, with the pastor’s permission, congregants and/or students/parents are asked to take a CLC Coins For Life box home for several weeks (e.g. 8 weeks) and put in their loose change. After the campaign period is over, coin boxes are picked up by CLC or delivered to our office.

Christmas Cake Fundraising Drive

We’re also in constant need of volunteers who are willing to become sellers of CLC Christmas cakes in their church or school. The cakes make great Christmas gifts and are a traditional yuletide desert. Volunteering with this fundraiser involves setting up a table and taking orders for cakes after church services (or in school), and promoting it within the church.

Take on responsibility for “adopting” your local federal MP and provincial MPP. If it’s within your comfort level, try to visit with them whenever a life and family issue comes up. It would be great if dedicated pro-lifers made it a personal rule to meet face to face with their elected representative 2 to 3 times per year. That kind of close rapport, over the years, has been proven to help make politicians more friendly towards our issues. Study our tips and recommendations on how to Adopt Your MP.

Attend All-Candidates Meetings During Elections

It is extremely difficult to get candidates during elections to reveal their their views on abortion. We send candidates our federal and provincial questionnaires, depending on the situation, but most of the time, candidates refuse to respond. One way you can help us evaluate all the candidates in a particular riding, whether during a general election or a by-election, is to be our eyes, ears and mouth at the local all-candidates meetings that are routinely scheduled. Take someone with you to record the answers, and go to the meeting prepared to ask one of the questions from our questionnaires. Then feed the details back to CLC so we can update the candidates evaluation info on our website. You can read about our Citizen Journalist video project here.

Volunteer your Time and Talents to A Crisis Pregnancy Centre Near You

See a list of Canadian pregnancy centre here. These represent the service branch of the pro-life movement. With confidential love and support, they help many woman choose life for their child. Very often they are overworked and underresourced.

Other?

Is there some volunteer capacity not listed here in which you feel you could assist CLC? Let us know.